IN CLOUDS AND RIVERS, ICE AND GLACIEK8. 



231 



ttons of the neve ; aiirl on these sections we 

 have found marked the edges of half-consol- 

 idated strata evidently produced by succes- 

 sive falls of snow. The neve is stratified 

 because its supply of material from the at- 

 mosphere is intermittent, and when we first 

 observed the blue veins we were disposed to 

 regard them as due to this stratification. 



450. But observation and reflection soon 

 dispelled this notion. Indeed, it could hard- 

 ly stand in the presence of the single fact 

 that at the ba^es of the ice falls the veins are 

 always verttctd, or neaily so We saw no 

 way of explaining how the hoiizontal strata 

 of the lien; could be eo tilted up at the base 

 of the fall as to be set on edge. Nor is the 

 aspect of the veins that of stratification. 



457. On the central portions of the cas- 

 cades, moreover, there are no signs of the 

 veins. At the bases they first appear, reach- 

 ing in . each case tliei'* maximum develop- 

 ment a little below the ba.se. As you and I 

 stood upon the heights above the Zasenberg 

 And scrutinized the cascade of the Strahlcck 



tranch of the Grmaelwald glacier, we could 

 jjpt doubt that the base of the fall was the 

 birthplace of the veins. "We called this por- 

 tion of the glacier a " Structure Mill, " inti- 



mating that here, and not on l? : ?, ieve, tne 

 veined structure was manufactured. 



458. This, however, is, at bottom, the lan- 

 guage of strong opinion merely, not tha-t of 

 demonstration ; and in science opinion ought 

 to content us only so long as positive proof 

 is unattainable. " The love of repose must 

 not prevent us from seeking this proof. 

 There is no sterner conscience than the sci- 

 entific conscience, and it demands, in every 

 possible case, the substitution for private 

 conviction of demonstration which s^all 1m 

 conclusive to all. 



459. Let us, for example, be shown r, case 

 in which the stratification of the neve is pro- 

 longed into the glacier ; let us see the planes 

 of bedding and the planes of lamination ex- 

 isting side by side, and still indubitably dis- 

 tinct. Such an observation would effectual- 

 ly exclude stratification from the problem of 

 the veined -structure, and through the re- 

 moval of this tempting source of. error we 

 should be icnd^ea more free to pursue the 

 truth. 



, 460. We sought for this conclusive test 

 upon the Mer de Glace, but did nut find it. 

 VVe sought it on the Grindehvald, and the 

 Aar glaciers, with an equal want of suc- 

 cess. On Hie Aletsch glacier, for the first 

 time, we observed the apparent coexistence 

 of bedding and structure, the one cutting the 

 other upon the walls of the same crevasse. 

 Still the case was not sufficiently pronounced 

 to produce entire conviction, and we visited 

 the Goiner glacier with the view of follow- 

 ing up our quest. 



461. Here day after day added to the con- 

 viction that the bedding and the structure 

 were two different things. Still day after 

 day passed without revealing to us the final 

 proof. Surely we have not let our own ease 

 stand in the way of its attainment, and if we 

 retire baffled we shall do so with the con- 

 sciousness of having done our best. Yon- 

 der, however, at the base of the Matterhorn, 

 is the Furgge glacier that we have not }-et 

 explored. Upon it our final attempt must bo 

 made. 



462. We get upon the glacier near its end, 

 and ascend it. We are soon fronted by a 

 barrier composed of three successive walls of 

 neve, th3 one rising above the other, and 

 each ictreating behind the other. The bot- 

 tom of each wall is separated from the top of 

 the succeeding one by a ledge, on which 

 threatening masses of broken neve now rest. 

 We stand amid blocks and rubbish which 

 have been evidently discharged from these 

 ledges, on which other masses, ready appar- 

 ently to tumble, are now poised. 



463. On the vertical walls of this barrier 

 we see, marked with the utmost plainness, 

 the horizontal lines of stratification, while 

 something exceedingly like the veined struc- 

 ture appears to cross the lines of bedding at 

 nearly a right angle. The vertical surface 

 is, howe/er, weathered, and the lines of struc- 

 ture, if aiey be such, are indistinct. The 

 problem now is to remove the surface, and 

 expose the ice underneath. It is one of the 



